MSU Library to co-host discussion series about Ivan Doig’s final four books
Ivan Doig fans and reading enthusiasts are invited to join the Montana State University Library and Country Bookshelf for “Exploring Ivan Doig: Discussing the Final Four.”
As part of the series, MSU Library and Country Bookshelf will hold a community discussion series on Doig’s last four books. The discussions will take place from 6–7pm and will be held at the Country Bookshelf, located at 28 W Main in Downtown Bozeman. The public is invited to attend any or all of the free discussions, set for the final Monday of every summer month through September.
The full series is as follows:
– June 24th: Work Song (published 2010)
– July 29th: The Bartender’s Tale (2012)
– August 26th: Sweet Thunder (2013)
– September 30th: Last Bus to Wisdom (2015)
Ivan Doig was a writer of international acclaim who published 16 memoirs and novels between 1978 and 2015. His last four books were written after his diagnosis with multiple myeloma, the disease that took his life in April 2015 at age 75.
The discussion series will be led by Jan Zauha, Humanities and Outreach Librarian at Montana State University, and will focus on Doig’s novels written while he managed the disease. Doig’s medical journals and other supplemental materials from the MSU Library’s Ivan Doig Archive (http://ivandoig.montana.edu) will be used to further understand the connections between Doig’s medical journey and his creative process.
Upon donating his archive to MSU Library in 2015, Doig’s widow Carol said, “No estimate of Ivan’s achievements as a writer would be complete without consideration of what he accomplished after he had been diagnosed with a fatal disease.”
Zauha said that while it may seem bleak to focus on Doig’s medical journey, it is important to understanding Doig as a writer and can serve as a motivator to those undertaking creative pursuits.
“I am continuously amazed at how Doig was able stay motivated during the last few years of his life,” said Zauha. “MSU Library is fortunate to have his medical journals along with his other archival materials as they play an important role in helping narrate Doig’s story.”
Doig grew up in White Sulphur Springs and Dupuyer, Montana. His first book, This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind, a poetic memoir published in 1978, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Doig then turned to writing fiction that perennially hit best-seller lists. Although Doig had lived in Seattle for many years, the lives of his characters often shared Doig’s Big Sky roots. Upon his passing, The New York Times wrote that Doig “created a body of work that helped shape our understanding of rural working-class life in the postwar American West.”
Individuals interested in being placed on an email distribution list for the Doig series are invited to contact Zauha at jzauha@montana.edu. •
